Slob

By Zoe Jacobson, Age 13, Literary Editor of TweenTribune

Slob is a predictable story told by an overweight boy in elementary school who is being teased. The main character, Owen Birnbaum, is 57% fatter then average twelve year old. The twist is his past and his genius IQ. He continuously says that his mother won’t let him tell anyone about his IQ because he used to brag about it.

The extra flare to the book is that Owen tries to create a television that can pick up signals from the past. He wants to find the footage of his parents’ death so that the police can arrest the criminal.

Anyone could understand why Owen tries to fill the emptiness he feels with food — the stress and grief of his parents' murder. On top of that, he is sent to a new school where all the kids make fun of him.

His sister "Jeremy" provides an odd twist — quickly making new friends by joining the group of girls pretending to be boys: GWAB (girls wanna be boys). They dress in boy clothes and cut their hair short. They even play with boys' toys and make speeches about their right to be called by their new boy names.

I thought the book was very good, but yes, it was also predictable. There were many original characters and ideas, but the plot and theme were unoriginal.

Between the evil Gym teacher, the ‘bad to the bone’ sort of bully who is rumored to have a knife in his sock, and the Indian neighbor, there isn’t much of a lack of personality.

However, I think this is a great book for any middle schooler. 1 thumb up!